In Ecuador they are not available in a pharmacy. Nor do doctors –
who prescribe oils, creams and tinctures based on cannabis – do not want to
expose themselves and prefer anonymity. This is because the therapeutic use of
these compounds is not allowed.

But the discussion around ‘opening that door’ is again valid. On Wednesday of last week, the Legislative Health Bureau approved the chapter on drugs containing narcotic and psychotropic substances. It is part of book 2 (there are three in total) of the Draft Organic Health Code (COS) and therefore will be included in the second debate in the Plenary.

The first occurred in May 2017. In the articles, which passed the
filter of most commission legislators, it is said that the Ministry of Health
will authorize physicians to prescribe medicines that contain controlled
substances, including cannabis. And they will determine what diseases will be
treated with them.

In addition, that Portfolio will authorize establishments to
dispense and sell the compounds. In the country, the legislation goes behind
the reality, since for about 20 years the patients get, clandestinely,
ointments, oils and mother tinctures, etc. Pedro (protected name) asks to be
“invisible” in this note. But he says that he and his colleagues come
to be like ‘pharmacies’, because through them the interested parties get what
they prescribe neurologists, oncologists, traumatologists and naturopaths, who
are part of a large chain.

They are already produced in the country, he responds, with raw
materials that are brought from abroad. They believe in the efficacy of
cannabis against chronic pain from arthritis, fibromyalgia, vitiligo and other
illnesses that require inflammation.

Also, that can help those suffering from diseases such as cancer. But there are no investigations that certify it. Along these lines, Omar Vacas, a researcher at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE), says that Ecuador is advancing as Uruguay, Chile, Peru and Colombia did to approve the medicinal use of cannabis. “This process is necessary, but hurried,” he says, due to lack of studies. In the country, he explains, there are 3 200 native medicinal plants and introduced in Ecuador, one of them cannabis, which can be combined with others.

Melly Valbuena, 51, reports that she felt as if the bones of her
spine were going to break, after an aggressive breast cancer that was detected
in 2012. She suffered metastases in the pancreas, liver, bones and blood. The
pain was unbearable and he looked for alternatives. In 2015 her husband asked
for help on social networks and several people communicated. They gave him the
plant and the oil, which he takes twice a day. The lady says that the medicine
generated vomit, anxiety and insomnia. The oil keeps it well, although it is
not easily found.

Know sites where a bottle, which lasts a month, costs USD 25.
“We do not smoke marijuana,” he says in reference to those who oppose
what has been endorsed so far by the Board of Health. The approval of the
Plenary and then of the Executive is still lacking.

Blanca Ugarte, ex-PSC, does not support her Health colleagues.
“Cannabis does not cure, it is a palliative for the ravages of a
chemotherapy or to attenuate the tremor of the Parkinson’s.” In addition,
it clarifies that it opposes a part of the articles, which establishes that the
sanitary authority will grant licenses and regulate the sowing, cultivation,
harvest, industrialization, storage and dispensing for medicinal purposes.

“I am opposed to Ecuador being a producer,” she
stresses. The Ministry of Health -opine- should not grant permits but the
Interior. Asked if the North border cannot be taken care of, the Agency of
Control and Sanitary Vigilance (Arcsa) will watch that a planting is not used
for another purpose.

Guilds on the other hand say that Ecuador would be in tune with
the world. Víctor Álvarez, president of the College of Physicians of Pichincha,
a subsidiary of the National Federation, believes that you can “take
advantage of treatments with cannabis derivatives and offer a legal model to
patients who already use them”.

With the current legal framework, whoever prescribes those products
commits an infraction. Álvarez cites what happened in the USA with the
Epidiolex. It is the first drug based on cannabidiol, approved by the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA), in June of this year. The Epidiolex is for patients
from 2 years old, with epileptic seizures by Dravet and Lennox Gastaut
(syndromes).

José Pillajo, architect, was diagnosed with colon cancer more than
a year ago. Three months ago, at 64, he left chemotherapy aside and treated
with cannabis oil and other natural medicines.

Magdalena Cáceres, his wife, places a couple of drops of oil under
his tongue, every day. It is part of his natural treatment with vitamins. Other
patients advised him to go to the Mayu Alternative Medicine Center. There,
among other things, they prescribe oil, 250 milligrams of cannabidiol. That
takes away the pain, it deflates and inhibits the growth of cancer cells, says
Julio Vicencio, a naturopathic center physician. Although in the country you
cannot certify that. A PUCE ethnobiologist, points out that there is no legal
basis behind the researchers to generate a base that would allow knowing the
types of plants, number of cannabis farmers, the properties and ways of
applying cannabis.

They are not treatments, he says, that can work with everyone. Account
that there are cases of people with tuberous, multiple and amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis, who improve with cannabis and extracts of cat’s claw, for example.
(I)